Drug Runner’s Digs Going on the Block

It’s the end of the line, so to speak, for a man convicted of landing his airplane at Santa Paula Airport with 600 pounds of high-grade cocaine on board.

Federal authorities are putting the sprawling estate of drug runner Daniel Wesley Allen on the auction block Friday. Cops say it’s the last step before closing the book on Ventura County’s largest cocaine seizure.

The three-acre Santa Barbara spread, which has two wrap-around decks, a guest house, a newly remodeled kitchen and a three-car garage, is fruit from a tainted tree.

The house and two planes owned by Allen were seized when authorities learned they were purchased with drug money, said Britney Bartlett, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs Service.

Allen, 52 at the time of his arrest, pleaded guilty to importing and possessing cocaine for distribution, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Samantha Phillips. He was sentenced in October to 17 years in prison.

During their investigation, authorities learned that Allen had been running cocaine and allegedly marijuana between Mexico and airports in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties for more than two decades.

The former Santa Barbara resident made headlines in August 1998 after customs agents spotted him flying into California at a low altitude. Authorities in two planes and two choppers followed Allen until he set down in Santa Paula.

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Money scams are like weeds. For every one that gets plucked, an uglier one returns in its place.

A man recently approached an Oxnard restaurant owner to solicit a donation for the Edward Cardoza 14th Annual AIDS Walk for Children. It’s a fraud, cops say.

The gracious restaurateur handed over $10 but became suspicious after reading a flier about the event and called police.

According to Oxnard Police Sgt. Bryan MacDonald, the flier contained bogus addresses for offices in Oxnard and Santa Monica and a phone number that rang a wrong number in Port Hueneme.

Upon further inspection, MacDonald found a fake business license number. The flier appeared to have been cranked out on a home computer.

There were also no date and time for the alleged walk.

“At first glance it might appear to be legitimate, but it’s not,” MacDonald said. “I mean I’ve been here 23 years and I’ve never heard of this event. That was kind of the first flag.”

The cops don’t know how many people were scammed, but they warned that solicitors who insist that cash donations be given to them directly should be checked out first.

“We think it’s great that this community wants to give,” MacDonald said. “But something like this puts bona fide charities at risk.”

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Apartments in downtown Ventura have attracted a gutsy breed of burglar.

In the course of one week this month, officers responded to three “hot prowls”--burglaries of occupied residences.

Burglaries of unoccupied homes happen all the time--more than 800 in 1998--but hot prowls are rare because criminals fear getting caught, said Ventura Police Cpl. Greg Parrish.

Police believe the same man committed hot prowls on Poli Street and Ferro Drive in the early hours of Jan. 9. The suspect description matched, and in each case the burglar entered through an unlocked door or window.

At the Ferro Drive apartment, a resident who was awakened during the break-in confronted the burglar as he was crawling through a bathroom window.

“The burglar was in up to his waist when the light came on. He said, ‘Sorry,’ backed out the window and shut it,” Parrish said.

Nothing was stolen in those break-ins, but in a third case on Paseo de Playa on Jan. 16, the burglar made off with cash and a cellular phone.

A different man probably committed that burglary, Parrish said.

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It’s not the story of the Bad News Bears--it’s better.

Eight youngsters who participate in a Ventura Police Department sports program for at-risk youth have dribbled their way to the state finals.

The boys, ages 11 and 12, are members of the Police Activities League, known as PAL. It’s one of 121 such leagues at police stations throughout the state.

The program pairs cops with kids, many of whom are from broken homes or who have struggled in school or dabbled with gangs.

The Ventura basketball team recently defeated six other Southern California PAL teams in a tournament to advance to a state PAL championship in Oakland next month.

The boys started practicing together only a couple of months ago but managed to become winners through teamwork, said Amy Crittenden, a spokeswoman for the Ventura PAL program.

If they win, they would be the first PAL team in the county to bring home a state championship.

Good luck.

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Holly J. Wolcott can be reached at 653-7581 or by e-mail at holly.wolcott@latimes.com.